A teletypewriter (TTY) is a telephone that is configured with a keyboard for users who are deaf or hard of hearing to be able to place calls by typing text messages. A user of a TTY may call another user with a TTY to communicate by using text messages rather than spoken communication. Each key of a TTY creates a specific tone that can be read by a handset on the TTY and the receiver of another TTY receiving the tone may interpret the tones to generate text. One problem that exists for users of TTYs is the ability for the users to be able to type rapidly and accurately. Some deaf and hard of hearing users are accustomed to using sign language, which has a different grammatical system than written language, thereby causing confusion of readers of the text.
In the event that a user of a TTY wants to place a call to a user who does not have a TTY and is capable of hearing, services exist that the TTY user can call to relay messages to a recipient. For example, if a user of a TTY calls to order food from a restaurant to be delivered, the user of the TTY may call the “transcription” or “interpreter” service to relay the text message from the user into a spoken order to the restaurant for the food.
In the event of an emergency for a user of a TTY, public safety answering points (PSAPs) are seldom configured with TTY devices or systems that are compatible with TTY devices. A number of problems exist for callers who use a TTY and emergency operators located at the PSAPs. First, a PSAP that receives a call from a TTY user may not have a TTY compatible device. Second, typing in an emergency situation can be difficult and time consuming for both the caller and operator. Third, urgency of a situation can often be misconstrued or lost on the reader when facts of the situation are typed using a TTY. Fourth, a particular detail that a caller may wish to convey may be difficult given a particular emergency. For example, a fire, medical, or intruder emergency may prevent a caller from being able to sufficiently provide enough detail to notify an operator at the PSAP as to the specific facts of the emergency. Even in the case of using a transcription service, the same or similar difficulties may exist when calling an emergency operator at a PSAP.